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Energy and LNG executives express relief at Trump's

election win

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Expect regulations will ease under new administration

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Environmental groups promise fight to block LNG expansion

By Curtis Williams

HOUSTON, Nov 7 (Reuters) - U.S. liquefied natural gas

developers awaiting permits for new export projects this week

expressed confidence President-elect Donald Trump will ease the

way for their multi-billion-dollar expansion plans.

Their confidence is buoyed by Trump's promise to end an

expanded Department of Energy review that has slowed new export

permits. President Joe Biden had paused new non-FTA export

permits and asked the DOE to more broadly evaluate the

cumulative effects of new LNG projects' climate and economic

impacts.

Environmental groups pledged to keep up the pressure to

block new plants.

Trump's victory will ensure the nation will have "some

rational, reasonable people running this country," said Marshall

McCrea, co-CEO of LNG and pipeline operator Energy Transfer ( ET )

. The change of administration assures a financial

go-ahead for its $13-billion LNG-export facility in Louisiana,

he said on a quarterly call.

Commonwealth LNG, which is developing a $10-billion facility

near Cameron, Louisiana, and has been waiting for an LNG-export

permit for more than 18 months, said it is looking forward to

approval of its non-FTA authorization. That term refers to

exports to non-Free Trade Agreement countries that account for

the vast majority of U.S. LNG purchases.

Sempra LNG, which plans to build a second phase of

its Texas-based Port Arthur LNG, now expects the Trump victory

will lead to an export permit by June.

"We have growing confidence in getting the permits we need

for Port Arthur Phase 2 in the first half of next year," Sempra ( SRE )

CEO Jeffrey Martin said on Wednesday on a quarterly call. The

project would add two liquefaction processing units to the two

under construction.

Environmental groups that helped convince the Biden

administration to reconsider the wider impact of LNG exports,

say they will continue to challenge the permits.

"We will do everything we can to fight back against attempts

to trample on safeguards meant to protect people from polluted

water and air," said Mahyar Sorour, director of the Sierra

Club's beyond fossil fuels policy.

Venture Global LNG, which has not received a non-FTA export

permit for its 20-million-metric-ton-per-annum Calcasieu Pass 2

plant in Louisiana, said it looks forward to working with the

incoming administration.

The expected loosening of some LNG regulations means a clear

runway for developers, said Fred Hutchison, CEO of trade group

LNG Allies.